Raphael Thys
Redwire Corporation, a company advancing the future of space infrastructure, announced it would be developing the only commercially owned and operated spaceflight-qualified plant growth platform capable of growing plants from seed to maturity in space.
Redwire Greenhouse, scheduled to launch to space no earlier than spring 2023, will be the first-ever commercially owned greenhouse installed on the International Space Station (ISS). Commercial agricultural technology company Dewey Scientific is expected to be Redwire's customer for the inaugural flight.
"Redwire Greenhouse will expand opportunities for scientific discovery to improve crop production on Earth and enable critical research for crop production in space to benefit future long-duration human spaceflight," said Dave Reed, Redwire Florida launch site operations director and greenhouse project manager. "Growing full crops in space will be critical to future space exploration missions as plants provide food, oxygen, and water reclamation. Increasing the throughput of crop production research in space, through commercially developed capabilities, will be important to deliver critical insights for NASA's Artemis missions and beyond."
The Redwire Greenhouse will provide a simple, scalable commercial solution for customers seeking to advance crop science from benchtop laboratory facilities to true production in space. Along with supporting long-term NASA exploration plans, the Redwire Greenhouse also will provide accessibility to institutional and commercial customers with various plant science and industrial research goals. Its 2023 in-space demonstration will validate the facility's concept of operations and evaluate its lighting, ventilation, and leaf litter containment capabilities.
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